The present invention relates generally to passenger boarding bridges for transferring passengers between an aircraft and a terminal building, and more particularly to passenger boarding bridges including a laterally adjustable cab.
In order to make aircraft passengers comfortable, and in order to transport them between an airport terminal building and an aircraft in such a way that they are protected from the weather and from other environmental influences, passenger boarding bridges are used, which can be telescopically extended, and the height of which is adjustable. For instance, an apron drive bridge in present day use has a plurality of adjustable modules, including: a rotunda, a telescopic tunnel, a bubble section, a cab, and elevating columns with wheel carriage. Typically, one elevating column is mounted adjacent to each lateral surface of the telescopic tunnel. Manual, semi-automated and fully-automated alignment systems are known in the art for adjusting the position of the passenger boarding bridge relative to an aircraft, for instance to compensate for different sized aircraft and to compensate for imprecise parking of an aircraft at an airport terminal. Of course, other types of bridges are known in the art, such as for instance pedestal bridges and over-the-wing (OTW) bridges.
The elevating columns are used to adjust the height of an outboard end of the passenger boarding bridge so that the cab engages a doorway of each different type of aircraft at a proper height. After the cab is positioned to the proper height, the elevating columns are used to support the telescopic tunnel in such a way that an approximately level surface is maintained between the doorway of the aircraft and the cab of the passenger boarding bridge. However, even after the cab is positioned at proper height, it is not a given that the cab is also positioned at a desired lateral position. In general, the need for an adequate line-up with an aircraft outlet determines the lateral positioning of the cab. The cab and the doorway of the aircraft must align in a proper fashion, so as to ensure safe boarding and deplaning of passengers. This prerequisite calls for a precise docking of the passenger boarding bridge to the aircraft, which in turn requires a considerable amount of time, since various precautious measures have to be taken to successfully complete the maneuver.
A precise alignment method for the cab attached to a passenger boarding bridge would greatly facilitate the docking of a passenger boarding bridge to an aircraft. Typically, in a first docking step, the passenger boarding bridge would be brought into a position of approximate alignment of the cab with a doorway of the aircraft. In a second docking step, a fine alignment is achieved by laterally adjusting the position of the cab of the passenger boarding bridge. The possibility of lateral adjustment of the cab portion also allows for a use of the passenger boarding bridge with a wide range of aircrafts, ranging from large jet airplanes to small commuter airplanes.
Passenger boarding bridges having laterally adjustable cab portions are known in the art. In U.S. Pat. No 6,122,789 to Stephenson and Telford, issued Sep. 26, 2000, there is disclosed a typical aircraft passenger boarding bridge including a walkway having a first end and a second end, the first end for connecting to an airport building; a cab portion connected to the second end of the walkway for connecting to an airplane. The cab portion is connected to the passenger boarding bridge via a sliding mechanism for allowing the cab portion to slide laterally. Further, the cab portion includes retractable floor members. The sliding mechanism and the retractable floor members allow the aircraft passenger boarding bridge to be used for both commuter aircrafts and jet airplanes. Preferably, there are at least two retracting floor members, one for each railing of the stairway of a commuter aircraft. Preferably, there is also a retracting floor member between the two retracting floor members for each railing, approximately the width of the space between the two railings.
It is a disadvantage of the system described in the prior art that the cab as whole has to be moved when performing a fine-tuning alignment. This requires a precise first alignment action, since the range of the fine-tuning motion is restricted due to the fact that the unwieldy cab portion has to be moved. Also, the sliding mechanism only allows for a positioning of the cab, but does not allow for example for adjusting the size of a passenger boarding bridge cab. A passenger boarding bridge cab that is adjustable in size would for example be of advantage when boarding bulky objects such as a stroller. Further, the prior art cab includes retractable floor members in order to provide the cab with a possibility to be used with all kind of aircrafts, including such aircrafts which feature automatically deploying stair sets. However, the retractable floor members introduce another degree of freedom when adjusting the cab for aligning, making the alignment process more complex. Not only is a lateral displacement needed, but also an additional floor member shift in a direction substantially perpendicular to the lateral motion is required. It would be advantageous if all the adjustment necessary to prepare the cab for aligning with a doorway for any kind of aircraft would be achieved by one type of displacing motion only.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a passenger boarding bridge having an adjustable cab that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art devices.
The invention provides a cab for serving as a portal between an aircraft passenger boarding bridge walkway and an aircraft exterior cabin door to permit passengers to board the aircraft from the walkway, the walkway having one end attached to a passenger terminal building and its opposite end extending out from the passenger terminal building, comprising: a first frame; a second frame attachable to the walkway opposite end in a manner to permit said frame to move in either lateral direction from the center and movable relative to the first frame; and, four panels including a floor panel, a ceiling panel, a first sidewall, and a second sidewall disposed for forming a passageway open at opposite ends, said passageway sized to permit a person to pass therethrough, at least a first of the four panels coupled to the first frame and at least a second of the four panels coupled to the second frame to support relative motion therebetween.
Additionally, the invention teaches a method of providing a continuous walkway between a terminal building and a passenger aircraft, comprising: providing an aircraft passenger boarding bridge disposed with one end of said aircraft passenger boarding bridge coupled to a terminal building to facilitate the movement of people between the passenger boarding bridge and the terminal building, providing an aircraft located and oriented within a working range of the passenger boarding bridge, orienting a cab section to correspond with the orientation of the door of the aircraft, moving the cab section of the passenger boarding bridge proximate a door of the aircraft, and adjusting the geometry of the cab section to correspond to the geometry of the door of the aircraft.
Another aspect of the invention teaches a cab for serving as a portal between an aircraft passenger boarding bridge walkway and an aircraft exterior cabin door to permit passengers to board the aircraft from the walkway, the walkway having one end attached to a passenger terminal building and its opposite end extending out from the passenger terminal building, comprising: a variable geometry extension having a variable geometry orifice, the variable geometry section including movable portions for, when moved, adjusting the cross sectional area of the variable geometry orifice proximate a door of the aircraft.